Brewers: Comeback bid falls short in 2nd straight loss to Atlanta
By Phil Watson
Adam Lind powered an eighth-inning home run to get the Milwaukee Brewers back to within a run but Atlanta Braves relievers David Aardsma and Jason Grilli proceeded to strike out four of the next five batters as the Braves hung on for a 4-3 win over the Brewers at Miller Park Tuesday night.
It was a solid, but tough, second big-league start for right-hander Tyler Cravy (0-2)—starting in place of injured Matt Garza. He surrendered single runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings, giving up three runs on eight hits in six innings.
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Will Smith was touched for what proved to be the decisive run in the seventh and Michael Blazek pitched two scoreless innings for Milwaukee (36-50).
Left-hander Manny Banuelos (1-0) got his first major-league win, allowing a run on five hits in 5.1 innings for the Braves (42-42), who climbed back to .500 with their second straight victory.
The Brewers fell to a MLB worst 15-28 at Miller Park this season.
Milwaukee got off to a solid start, scoring a first-inning run for the eighth time in nine games when Jonathan Lucroy took Banuelos deep to right-center for just his second home run of the season.
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Atlanta tied it in the top of the second, though, when A.J. Pierzynski homered to center field, his sixth of the campaign.
The Braves took their first lead in the fourth on an RBI single by Pierzynski and went up 3-1 on Cameron Maybin’s run-scoring triple to right in the fifth.
“Second time [through the order], they were pretty comfortable,” Cravy told MLB.com. “I don’t think I threw inside enough. They did a real good job of staying on balls low and out of the zone and putting good swings on those.”
Smith gave up an RBI single to left-handed hitting Nick Markakis in the seventh to put the Braves up 4-1 before the Brewers began to claw back.
Facing right-hander Mike Foltynewicz in the bottom of the seventh, Khris Davis—returning from the disabled list after being out since May 30 with a torn meniscus—singled to right and one out later, pinch-hitter Shane Peterson lined a double to left to score Davis and cut the deficit to 4-2.
Peterson moved to third on a groundout and Lucroy walked, but David Carpenter came on to strike out Ryan Braun to end the threat.
With one out in the eighth, Lind socked his 15th home run of the season to center field off Aardsma.
But that was it for the Brewers. Aramis Ramirez struck out and Davis flew out to end the eighth and in the ninth, Grilli came on to fan Scooter Gennett, Gerardo Parra and Jean Segura in succession to end it, getting his 24th save.
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Lind was 2-for-3 with a walk and is now hitting .299 for the season.
The Brewers close out the short home set Wednesday at 1:10 p.m., with right-hander Mike Fiers (4-7, 3.83 ERA) tasked with preventing the sweep. Atlanta counters with right-hander Julio Teheran (6-4, 4.60).
Fiers took a no-decision in his lone career start against the Braves earlier this season, allowing two runs in five innings while fanning five. He was a winner last time out, working seven shutout innings and allowing just three hits in a 12-1 win at Cincinnati on Friday.
Teheran is 2-2 in four career starts against Milwaukee, with a 1.59 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 28.1 innings. That includes allowing a run on two hits with eight Ks in seven innings of a 10-1 win at Turner Field on May 21.
In his last start, Teheran surrendered just an unearned run and seven hits in seven innings of a 6-4 win over the Phillies on Friday.